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Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"

Many times over the last two years I have heard from Kiwanis members that say they love Kiwanis, they love the people, they love the service...but they get tired of the weekly meetings.  While you may be a member of a club that has well planned meetings, interesting programs, friendly atmosphere, and wonderful food, that is not universally true.  For some Kiwanis members the weekly meeting ritual is something that they feel they "have to" do.  My challenge for those clubs is to start a dialog with their members and leaders about what changes would be required to make those club meeting something that people feel they "get to" attend, rather than "have to".  What if one meeting a month was replaced with an evening social event that was a ton of fun?  What if you replaced one of the weekly meetings with a Saturday service project instead?  What if your club reduced its meeting time to 45 minutes from start to finish so that working members would be able to fit it into their schedule?  What if one meeting a month was held in a unique setting like a local museum, an art gallery, city hall, the symphony hall, the minor league ball park, in a large tent outdoors, a wealthy members home, or whatever interesting venue you could think of?  What if...?

So my quesiton to you is:  What kind of things would change your Kiwanis meeting from a "have to" to a "get to"?  (and if your club is already a "get to", tell us about why that is)


Posted Nov 20 2008, 11:16 PM by Rob Parker

Comments

Charles McMahon wrote re: Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"
on 12-05-2008 12:50 AM

We are struggling with this problem and have for many years.  We have attempted many different plans, including having meetings at different times during the month, changing the formats so that one meeting is business only, a happy hour event and a dinner meeting with a program.  Right now we are doing a member directory and package for all members that will be hand delivered by our President.  Included will be our directory, a membership recognition certificate for the number of years, Kiwanis Logo Sticker, and the yearly calendar of events.  We also have planned a special event each month to bring our members out for some fun.  We also have reinstituted the phone tree so that four board members will be calling members each week to invite them to the event or meeting.  We use email notices on a weekly basis to remind members as well as sending a postcard each month that they can put on the fridge or bulletin board with the schedule of events/meetings/projects for that month.  Our web site www.kiwanisclubofutica.org is constantly updated (recently won the web site award for the NY district) so short of paying members to show up we seem to be making every effort.  We know that members show for "their" favorite event, but consistency seems to be a problem. We haven't given up and we will continue to be innovative in our efforts.

Rob Parker wrote re: Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"
on 12-05-2008 9:03 AM

Charles,

These are some great ideas.  

Rob

Ronald E Riel, Past Lt Gov, Division 46 wrote re: Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"
on 02-16-2009 11:13 PM

I cannot get your page to print! This is good pertinent info and I want to bring it to our membership committee and club to help with the very same problems, but it just will not print. What is the solution?

Rob Parker wrote re: Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"
on 02-17-2009 11:53 AM

Ronald,

I am traveling today but will see of one of our staff members can assist you.  You can  send an e-mail to Michelle Sperr at msperr@kiwanis.org and she may be able to help.  

Rob

Michelle Sperr wrote re: Moving From "Have To" to "Get To"
on 02-17-2009 2:57 PM

Ronald,

I double checked the printing and it turns out that it prints in 2 pages - first page is just the header with a blank page and the second page has the actual blog post and all of the comments.

I have a copy sitting on my desk.  If you can't make it work for you, please e-mail me and I"ll scan it and send it back.

Michelle

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